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Amiga Update (1997-04-20)
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter)
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga International, GmbH
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970420
G A T E W A Y N O T E T O A M I G A C O M M U N I T Y
O N L I N E I N T E R V I E W - P E T R O T .
T H E A A A A W A R D S
P O W E R C O N ' 9 7 U P D A T E
F I N N I S H W E B S I T E L A U N C H E D
A M I T E C H ' 9 7 I N S W E D E N
G H O S T S C R I P T F I X
S O U N D S T A G E P R O
M I D I T R A C K E R V 1 . 1 A V A I L A B L E
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
It seems we just sent you an issue, and here comes another. There's
been a lot of activity in the Amiga community lately, and "Amiga
Update" is doing its best to keep you informed.
First is a short message from Gateway posted a few days ago. It
confirms our suspicion that those people announcing the final approval
of the sale earlier were jumping the gun. These things just don't
happen that fast. However, all seems to be on track. In fact, eagle
eyed readers may have spotted a subtle change in the "Amiga Update"
masthead this issue. (I hear the sounds of many eyeballs snapping up
to look at the top of the page.) Yes, Amiga Technogies is gone - in
its place is Amiga International. We made the change as the Amiga
homepage in Germany has already done so.
This could cause us a minor problem. In the past we've used the AI
abreviation for "The Amiga Informer" magazine. We'll have to watch
ourselves. Speaking of AI - that is, "The Amiga Informer", our second
story is lifted from the "Amiga Alley" web page and discusses an
online interview to be conducted at World of Amiga in London with
Amiga International President Petro Tyschtschentko. Plans include an
opportunity for you to post questions through a web page. It seems the
plans are still being firmed up, so stand by. We'll keep you informed.
Sweden, home of the Nobel Peace Prize, is now the home of another
valued award. While not so prestigious as the Nobel, we bet many
Amigans will take a strong interest in the AAA awards. Details below.
From the same corner of the world, an announcement of a new Amiga web
site. This on is for Finnish Amiga users. If you can speak the
language, you will probably enjoy checking it out.
We have information for you this time on two upcoming Amiga shows
(we've run stories on World of Amiga" in past issues.) One story is an
update from the Powercon '97 organizers in Canada; the other provides
facts about Amitech '97 in Sweden. The first AAA awards will be
presented at this show.
There's software in the news too. We have a short item about a fix to
the recently distributed version of Ghostscript for the Amiga. A port
from the Unix world, Ghostscript is a complex but very capable
PostScript interpreter. You should be able to find a copy at most
AmiNet sites.
Soundstage Pro and Miditracker are two different items for working
with sound on your Amiga. The first is a professional sound board for
your computer; Miditracker is a shareware sequencer for composing MIDI
tunes.
Many interesting things to read about this time.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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G A T E W A Y N O T E T O A M I G A C O M M U N I T Y
Gateway 2000 is still waiting for the final approval from the German
bankruptcy court to complete the aquisition of the assets of AMIGA
Technologies. Gateway 2000 is working hard to explore how to expand
the world of AMIGA.
AMIGA International and Gateway 2000 have received many positive
responses from the AMIGA community and wanted to keep the community
informed of the progress of the aquisition. AMIGA International plans
on further communications regarding our strategy (pending final
approval) during a press conference at the "World of AMIGA" on May
17th and May 18th in London.
April 17, 1997
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O N L I N E I N T E R V I E W - P E T R O T .
Online interview with
Petro Tyschtschenko
{The following are two postings announcing an upcoming online
interview with Petro Tyschtshenko to be held at World of Amiga in
London in May. The original posting is followed by one describing some
fine tuning of the plans. As the plans are finalized, we'll let you
know about it. We think this is a very worthwhile effort on the part
of the Amiga Web Directory and "The Amiga Informer". Brad}
13 April
The President of Amiga Technologies, Petro Tyschtschenko, has agreed
to a unique, interactive question and answer forum, to be held on
line.The Amiga Web Directory and The Amiga Informer are sponsoring the
forum.
Mr. Tyschtschenko will answer five questions. The questions will be
asked by the Amiga community at large, by way of a form on a web page.
Everyone will be allowed to pose five questions. All of the questions
recieved will be tallied and sorted by catagory. The ten most asked
questions will be submitted to Mr. Tyschtschenko. He has agreed to
answer any five of these questions, at his discretion.
The questionaire form will be posted following the AmigaTechnologies
press release at the WOA. It is expected that this press release will
answer several questions about the future of the Amiga.
The form will posted from June first until the middle of the month.
This will give you about two weeks to think up and submit your
questions. Mr. Tyschtschenko's replies will first appear on AWD.
In replying to [the] request to be interviewed, Mr. Tyschtschenko
said, "I think that is a great idea and I would support you and the
[Amiga] community of course."
He went on to say that he was very busy now trying to "lead AMIGA in
the successful and right direction".
Any news of Gateway's intentions, or of Amiga Technologies' plans will
be gladly received by the Amiga Community. This is your chance to
actually pose the questions you would like answered.
16 April
The "Amiga Alley" web site received this from Mr. Tyschtschenko on
the 16th of April:
Relax.......We will make our official statement on the
WORLD of AMIGA in London 17/18 May 1997.....
Press conference is planned 16 May 1997
So, this means that instead of answering only five questions, he will
field questions from the press on May 16th.
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T H E A A A A W A R D S
Date: 19 Apr 1997 11:48:20 GMT
The AAA Awards - You're in the Jury!
Umee, Sweden - Friday, April 18, 1997. Amiga Computer Group (ACG), an
amiga user association based in Umee, Sweden, hereby announce the
introduction of the annual ACG Amiga Achievement Awards (the AAA
Awards) - an award program aimed at strengthening the Amiga Community.
Background
The Amiga computer has always been recognized for its devoted users
and developers. Even after the Commodore bankruptcy in 1994, and also
the ESCOM bankruptcy in 1996, Amiga users are still supporting and
using their favourite system, often with even more intensity than ever
before. There is great potential in the Amiga Community. Amiga users
are innovative, both in terms of hardware and software. The Commodore
commercials of 1989 stating "Amiga - A Computer for the Creative Mind"
are still valid as ever before. However, in times like these, when the
future of the Amiga is somewhat uncertain, all members of the
Community need motivation and inspiration to go on working the Amiga
magic. The Amiga has still so many boundaries to break, and we all
need to work together to show it to the world. That's where the AAA
Awards come in. The AAA Awards are intended to be a source of
inspiration and motivation for users, developers and other people
working for and with the Amiga. The AAA Awards may also be a source of
unification, bringing about groundbreaking international Amiga
projects. Regard them as the achievement awards of the Amiga
Community.
The Awards
The AAA Awards are presented by Amiga Computer Group (ACG), a
non-profit-making Amiga User Association based in Umee, Sweden
together with its associates world-wide. The AAA Awards logo has been
designed by Bjvrn Hagstrvm (orgin@medio.mh.se), of "AmiTech '97" and
"Svenska AmigaMagazin" logo fame. The AAA Awards consist of fine
hand-written diplomas with motivation and the honorable official
recognition. The AAA Awards are divided in two groups: International
and National. The AAA Award International and the AAA Award Sverige
(Sweden) will be handled by Amiga Computer Group. Amiga user groups in
other countries may apply for exclusive representation in their own
native country. Please see the AAA Awards Homepage for more
information on this, or contact Amiga Computer Group by phone or mail.
Everyone is welcome to suggest candidates for the AAA Awards. If you
do so, please include a brief explanation as to why this person or
group of persons should receive the AAA Award. Also include your own
name and addresses, as we may want to ask some additional questions.
There are basically no limits as to who you may suggest. Private
persons, companies, associations, etc. The AAA Awards may be presented
posthumously, and you may also suggest yourself. The criteria for the
AAA Awards are very simple:
"The awards should go to he/she/that/those which/who has/have done the
greatest achievement in contributing to the upkeeping of AMIGA. values
during the past year."
Suggestions for the 1997 AAA Awards will be accepted until January 5th
1998 through the AAA Awards Homepage, e-mail or regular mail. All
suggestions will be considered by the ACG-appointed jury and its
international associates in early 1998, and three final nominees for
each category will be made official. Anyone may then vote at the AAA
Awards Homepage for the nominee he/she feels should receive the AAA
Award. This voting period will span over one month. Exact dates will
be announced at a later time through the AAA Awards Homepage,
Amiga-related newsgroups etc. ACG and its associates world-wide will
then solemnly announce the AAA Awards Winners 1997.
First Winners
The first AAA Awards will be presented at the AmiTech 97 show in
Stockholm, Sweden 25 - 27 April 1997. This will signify the launching
of the awards. Those awards will be presented for long-term
achievement. The jury has decided as follows:
AAA Award International
Dave Haynie
"For his contributions to the computer development in general, and a
true commitment to the Amiga platform, bringing a unique personal
touch to the machine. And of course for being cool."
AAA Award Sverige
Thomas Svenson
"Fvr sin starka drivkraft och entreprenvrsfvrmega i att frdmja Amigans
fortlevnad och utveckling i Sverige."
("For his strong driving force and entrepreneural ability in promoting
the survival and development of the Amiga in Sweden.")
Contributions
Companies, associations and such that wish to contribute to the AAA
Awards by donations or likewise, may see the AAA Awards Homepage or
contact ACG president Martin Sahlin at martin.sahlen@amiga-cg.se for
more information. We offer great advertising opportunities at the AAA
Awards Homepage.
Supporting
Visit the AAA Awards Homepage and download a AAA Awards Button which
you may include in your own WWW pages. Please do not refer to the
image on our server at your homepage, since that will result in our
server being over-loaded with requests.
Updates
All the latest news regarding the AAA Awards will be made official at
the AAA Awards Homepage. Please check back regulary, the pages are yet
not completed.
Acknowledgements
The AAA Awards is copyright 1997 Amiga Computer Group. The AAA Awards
logo is copyright 1997 Amiga Computer Group and Bjvrn Hagstrvm. The
national and international AAA Awards are copyright 1997 Amiga
Computer Group.
Contact:
Martin Sahlin
Amiga Computer Group
Skolgatan 14
SE-903 22 UMEE
Sweden
martin.sahlen@amiga-cg.se
More information: AAA Awards Homepage - http://www.amiga-cg.se/aaaa/
AMIGA. is a registered trademark of Amiga International.
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P O W E R C O N ' 9 7 U P D A T E
PowerCon'97 NEWS UPDATE (97/04/14)
----------------------------------
- CUBE the first Be User Group in Montreal, will be present in the
user section to show several aspect of the BeBox/BeOS!
- GfxBase a resellers of Amiga products will demonstrate the PowerUP
boards from Phase5.
- BeatWare a company developping BeOS software will present their
BeSuite (Reggae Paint/Draw/Write). And also give a seminar on how to
develop application with AppSketcher.
- PowerCon'97 Site has been updated. We have done alot of changes on
the sites during the week-end, and expect more updates during this
week!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F I N N I S H W E B S I T E L A U N C H E D
Date : 13 Apr 1997 15:02:27 GMT
A Finnish Amiga users' group, the Finnish Amiga Users' Association
(Suomen Amiga-kayttajat ry.) have new pages on the World Wide Web.
The pages contain relevant information about the association and the
latest Saku e-zines for Finnish Amiga users.
The pages can be found at:
http://www.ic.jytol.fi/~saku/
--
Janne Siren (siren@mikrobitti.fi)
Webmaster, Finnish Amiga Users' Association
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I T E C H ' 9 7 I N S W E D E N
AmiTech '97 25-27TH April
AMIGA CONVENTION STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
This is a preview of what will happen at the AmiTech '97 show.
The three heavyweights
Amiga International's President Petro Tyschtschenko will make a
statement about the Amiga's future, exactly one month after the
Gateway 2000 buyout.
http://www.amiga.de
Phase5 Digital Products', President Wolf Dietrich will present the
roadmap of his company and their latest addition, the Amiga PowerPC
accelerators.
http://www.phase5.de
PIOS Computers, President Stefan Domeyer will present his company and
show the state of the hardware of the TransAM PowerPC, explain their
concept for the future.
http://www.pios.de
--
The MOTOROLA PowerPC RISC Unit, Sweden Is one of the sponsors of the
show, and will send a speaker to give an in-depth technical
presentation of the PowerPC line of processors.
http://www.motorola.com
LIVE ISDN Internet
We have 4 channels of ISDN hookup at the show (256Kb/s) and we will do
our best to bring you live video from the show, including the above
speeches. At least there will be ongoing IRC chat all the time from
the convention.
Visit our web site http://www.canit.se/amitech during the show for
details.
HiQ Siamese System;
Stephen Jones, General Manager of HiQ UK will launch the new exciting
version of the Siamese System, V2 RTG. Bringing integration of
Amiga-PC to all new heights, it's regarded a strong part of the
Amiga's future.
http://www.hiq.co.uk/
IBrowse, Amiga WWW
Stefan Burstrom core programmer of IBrowse, the leading Amiga Web
Browser will host a seminar and demo his latest fresh version of IB at
the show.
http://www.omnipresence.com
Going press!
We have decided to advertise the event in a daily Stockholm newspaper
the 5 days before the show, in a hope the attention will bring back
curious ex-Amiga users to the show. The newspaper reach 540,000
readers each morning, and is free for everyone, in the subway and
other places.
Competitions
At the show there will be awards for Best Amiga DEMO and Best Amiga
picture. The winning awards will receive fine hardware, sponsored by
Distribution 4.
Imagine 5.0 Amiga
Christian Seron from Infologic, the Impulse European representative
will Demo and talk about the new Imagine, the Amiga version only costs
1/7th of the PC!
http://www.coolfun.com
Swedish Amiga dealers
Only the leading and loyal will come, here are the ones that so far
have decided to come.
Distribution 4 Tricom Data Vision AB
Mematex Micsam
Vidamus MM Orebro Videoreklam
Comprex
Amiga person of the year
At the show the Swedish Amiga person of the year will be awarded by
the Amiga-CG usergroup.
Amiga user groups
SUGA AUGS
AIU Amiga-CG
AmigaTeam Jamtlandska AmigaForeningen
Amiga Magazines
AmigaInfo SAM
Tecno
Misc Products on display (a few highlights)
Cassablanca, CyberVision 3D, Imagine 5, Picasso IV, Ariadne, QuickCAM,
SiSys, Worms DC, A4000T/060, Apollo, Blizzard, PowerUP, Mustek
Scanners, Genlocks, 56k modems, Draco, Storm C++, pOS, CyberStorm,
AmiNET CD, A1200 Ethernet, PC HD Floppy adapter, Nokia 17" 'Amiga'
monitor, and much more.
'And a few more surprises! :-)
For now that's all we will present, tune into the web site at the time
of the show, the show is on from 25th-27th April, 10am-6pm Central
European Time. GMT 9am-5pm.
Best regards,
The AmiTech '97 Group.
Comments on the contents of this text, email Fredrik Lundin at
flu@tricom.se
----------------------------------------------------------------------
G H O S T S C R I P T F I X
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 10:50:48 GMT
Hello All,
For all of you who already have downloaded Ghostscript4.03 and
discovered that gs -sDEVICE=amiga_custom didn't work, I have uploaded
a new set of binaries to Aminet which should appear in a day or 2.
For those that didn't know yet, I uploaded last week the latest
version of GS including the source to Aminet. Read the readme's to
know what is new and needed.
Joop
---
Joop van de Wege Joop.vandeWege@medew.ento.wau.nl
Mobile Computing Consultants Tel: +31 318 553292
Net/Web specialist
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S O U N D S T A G E P R O
Date: 19 Apr 1997 11:48:40 GMT
TITLE
SoundStage Pro (Hardware)
VERSION
Revision B (Rev.C of the SoundStage series)
COMPANY
Applied Magic Inc
2234 Ruthford Rd
Carlsbad, CA, 92008
Toll Free: 1-888-MAGIC-55
or Phone: 619-931-6417
FAX: 619-931-6440
email: product_info@amagic.com
web: http://www.amagic.com/
or http://www.applied-magic.com/
or http://www.sorceror.com/
DESCRIPTION
SoundStage and now the SoundStage Pro series is a professional
digital audio board for Amiga 3000(T) and 4000(T) computers.
It hardware is based on a Texas Instruments 40MFlop DSP, which
is used to manage all audio I/O up to six different sources.
Audio I/O consists of 4 balanced +4dBu input and outputs, and 2
channel (1 stereo pair) AES/EBU digital input and output.
Digital I/O also supports the SP/DIF standard.
For further details and software features please look at the
Applied Magic Inc web pages, or for SoundStage information
directly, go to http://www.amagic.com/html/sound4.html.
NEW FEATURES
The SoundStage Pro incorporates 20bit audio samplers and digital
to analog convertors to acheive the best signal to noise ratio.
Previous hardware revisions only used 16bit parts. Many other
audio quality issues have been addressed.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
An Amiga with a Zorro-III bus (SuperBuster-11 required).
AmigaOS 3.x.
PRICE
SoundStage Pro with ProducerAUDIO software $1899 US.
AudioLab16 for SoundStage $149 US.
Timecode option $149 US.
AVAILABILITY
Shipping from 21-April-1997.
Timecode option will ship in May.
POSTED BY
David A Newman
Director of Engineering
Applied Magic Inc
dan@amagic.com
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M I D I T R A C K E R V 1 . 1 A V A I L A B L E
Date: 19 Apr 1997 11:48:31 GMT
TITLE
MidiTracker V1.1
AUTHOR
Sven Thoennissen
Karlsgraben 35
52064 Aachen
Germany
svent@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
sa80@corona.tng.oche.de (if the other email doesn't work)
DESCRIPTION
MidiTracker is a MIDI sequencer that uses the 'tracker' concept
for composing songs, hence the name. :-) Unlike other tracker
programs that have MIDI capabilities, MidiTracker has been
designed specifically for MIDI composing and does not use Amiga
audio (except for the metronome). If you have used trackers
before, then it shouldn't take you too long to get accustomed
to MidiTracker.
The intention with MidiTracker is to keep everything as dynamic
as possible thus giving you more freedom and control over your
MIDI data within a tracker environment. For example, have you
ever had the problem of wanting to realtime record pitchbend,
modulation, aftertouch and sustains but the tracker either
didn't get the notes properly or wasn't capable of doing so?
MidiTracker can do it.
NEW FEATURES
Important changes since 1.0:
- Keyboard Actions Window (trigger transport-controls via synth)
- Import OctaMED MMD1 modules.
- Import GM-type-1 files (SMF).
- The Stacker/Remapper is not disabled if MT is unregistered.
People asked me and wanted to test the MIDI-thru feature so
here it is.
- Block-randomize function (in Block-menu).
- Tempo BPM values from 1-27 are also allowed.
- SysEx Editor
- MIDI In/Out Filter
- New Score window layout, looks like a timeline now.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
- Kick 2.04, better 3.0+
- 68020 with fastram would be good
- MIDI interface plus equipment (e.g. synthesizer, keyboard)
strongly recommended for composing
AVAILABILITY
MidiTracker is available on all Aminet sites, eg.
ftp://ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk/aminet/mus/midi/MidiTracker1_1.lha
It is also available at its support mailbox in Germany:
Corona BBS, Sysop is Mathias Frankenbach.
+49 241 39164 USR V34+
24846 V34 Zyxel D
4090012 V34 Zyxel 2864ID (ISDN + V34)
4090013 ISDN Master
Login: MidiTracker
Password: MidiTracker
PRICE
Shareware DM 50,- or US $35.00 or AUS $45 (at the Australian
Registration Site).
DISTRIBUTABILITY
MidiTracker is Shareware. The archive as provided by myself may
not be altered. It can be distributed everywhere if it's free of
charge. MidiTracker is (c) Copyright 1996-1997 Sven Thoennissen.
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Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at:
http://www.sharbor.com/amiga/news/ (in html format)
http://www.amigacom.com (in ASCII text)
Australian Mirror Site: http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/index.html
All back issues available (in ASCII text) at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU.html
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Copyright 1997 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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